University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources and Environment
Master’s Project Symposium
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Room 2024 Dana Natural Resources Building

This symposium is open to the public.  SNRE students, prospective students, staff, faculty, client organizations, community organizations, and the general public are encouraged to attend individual sessions or the entire symposium.  Please note that no RSVPs are required, but seating may be limited.

Post-Presentation Client Meetings
After the presentations, student group members will have the opportunity to discuss their presentations with clients.  A separate room for this discussion will be reserved (each group will have 1 hour for discussion).  This time can be used to thank the clients for their support, discuss future objectives, and obtain feedback from client organizations. 

Client Discussion Room: 2560 Dana Building

SNRE is also hosting a "Thesis and Practicum Presentation Day" on Friday, April 17, 2009.  Click here for more information.

8am-9am
Ungulate Pathways of the West: Examining conservation challenges and opportunities for ungulate migrations through case studies of the Grand Teton National Park Pronghorn, Absaroka Elk, and Round Valley Mule Deer
Faculty Advisor: Steve Yaffee and Julia Wondolleck
Student Group Members:
Diane Sherman, JD/MS Environmental Policy and Planning                                  
Erika Hasle, MS Terrestrial Ecosystems                                                                    
Josè G Gonzalez, MS Behavior, Education, and Communication                               
Andrew Fotinos, MS Environmental Policy and Planning      
Elizabeth Nysson, MS Environmental Policy and Planning
Greg Sampson, JD/MS Conservation Biology

Migratory ungulates have shaped the American landscape for thousands of years.  Increased human development has stopped or shorted many of these migrations.  We examined the current conservation efforts aimed at long-distance ungulate migration corridors in the Western U.S. by focusing on three case studies:

• Grand Teton National Park Pronghorn: Upper Green River Basin, WY;
• Clarks Fork and Cody Elk, Absaroka Divide, WY; and
• Round Valley Mule Deer, Sierra Nevada, CA.

We assessed the management, policy, and communication strategies used in these case studies to inform the decision-making and conservation efforts of individuals, organizations, and land managers working on over-land migration corridors.  The team will produce a comprehensive project report as well as condensed scientific and policy pieces targeted to specific audience needs. 

9am-10am
Sustaining Hope: A Strategic Plan for Growing Hope in Ypsilanti, MI
Client: Growing Hope
Faculty Advisor: Andy Hoffman
Student Group Members:
Rachel Chadderdon, MPH/MS Behavior, Education & Communication
Laura Colangelo, JD/MS Aquatics/Environmental Policy
Joel Heeres, MUP/MS Environmental Planning
Brian Lipinski, MS Environmental Policy                   
Dominic Pietro, MS Sustainable Systems
Rachel Steel, MS Behavior, Education & Communication                                                                                   

Based on community and market surveys, a literature review, and site visits to similar organizations, our team has created a conceptual and financial plan for Growing Hope, an urban gardening organization in Ypsilanti, MI.  The plan outlines two possible directions for the organization that incorporate the director’s vision for the future.  Each plan includes a substantial social enterprise component to partially fund the activities offered to community members.

10:10-11:10am
Boyne Mountain Resort Environmental Sustainability Management Plan
Client: Boyne Mountain Resort
Faculty Advisor: Chris Ellis
Student Group Members:
Eric Bruski, MS Sustainable Systems                                                 
Leonore Hijazi, MBA/MS Sustainable Systems                                              
Lauren Hoffman, MLA/MS Terrestrial Ecosystems                           
Laurel Martin, MBA/MS Sustainable Systems                                              
Geoff Michael, MS Sustainable Systems
Imogen Taylor, MBA/MS Sustainable Systems

Our project was to design a site-specific environmental design and management plan for Boyne Mountain Resort in Boyne Falls, Michigan using the National Ski Areas Association’s Sustainable Slopes Environmental Charter as a guide.  The overall goal of this project was to supply our client resort with a set of practical recommendations such that it could drastically improve its environmental impact by implementing our plan. We organized our work along four objectives: reduce energy, water, and waste; minimize ecosystem impacts through sustainable design; enhance consumer and employee education; and demonstrate financial impact of implementation. The phases of our project were to research and define the industry’s best practices, research and assess Boyne’s current state practices, identify Boyne’s priorities, and develop detailed recommendations for projects to implement. The end result was a bound sustainability plan given to Boyne’s management team.

11:20am-12:20pm
Corn Ethanol and Wildlife: How are policy- and market-driven increases in corn plantings affecting habitat and wildlife?
Client: National Wildlife Federation
Faculty Advisors: Johannes Foufopoulos, Michael Moore, and Steve Yaffee
Student Group Members:
Aviva Glaser, MPH/MS Conservation Biology and Environmental Health Science  
Elizabeth Griffin, MBA/MS Conservation Biology                                                     
Kristen Johnson, MS Environmental Policy and Planning
Greg Fogel, MPP/MS Environmental Policy Planning           
Becca Brooke, MBA/MS Environmental Policy and Planning

Recent legislation mandates an increase in domestic corn ethanol production. These mandates are resulting in changes in land use, agricultural practices, and wildlife habitat. Our project investigates how these changes are affecting the Prairie Pothole Region of the Northern Great Plains, an ecosystem already facing pressure from agriculture expansion. Specifically, we draw on previous studies to illustrate the link between demand for corn ethanol, increased corn prices, and the resultant increase in corn plantings throughout the region. We then map “hot spots” of past land-use change to illustrate where increased plantings coincide with loss of native prairie and land in the Conservation Reserve Program. Using Breeding Bird Survey data, we analyze the bird population trends in these hot spots to quantify the impact of these land-use changes on wildlife populations. Our final recommendations focus on mitigating the impacts of corn ethanol production on wildlife and are based on both our analysis and conversations with conservation practitioners throughout the region. We describe how federal and state ethanol incentives and conservation programs can be changed or strengthened either in law or in implementation to best conserve wildlife and habitat for future generations.

12:30-1:30pm
The St. Marys River Watershed: Planning for Biodiversity Conservation
Client: The Nature Conservancy
Faculty Advisor: J. David Allan
Student Group Members:
Robyn Harris, MS Environmental Policy and Planning                                              
Brad Kinder, MS Environmental Policy and Planning                                               
Adrienne Marino, MS Conservation Biology                                                 
Vanessa Parker-Geisman, MS Conservation Biology                                    
Tamatha Patterson, MS Conservation Biology

The St. Marys River is a 112 km connecting channel between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. The river and its associated marshes, riparian areas, and upland habitats, comprise one of the most biologically diverse regions in the Great Lakes Basin, and the area was identified as a priority for conservation by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in 2000. Using TNC’s Conservation Action Planning (CAP) process, we identified important conservation targets, developed practical indicators to track their current and future status, identified threats to target species and ecosystems, explored opportunities for the conservation of the targets given the social, economic, political and cultural environment, and developed strategies to protect, enhance, or restore biodiversity. We used a variety of research methods including extensive literature reviews, interviews, and focus groups with conservation professionals in the St. Marys River basin to incorporate their local and regional expertise into our project. The outcome of this project is an adaptive management plan to inform TNC’s future involvement in biodiversity conservation in the St. Marys River region.

1:40-2:40pm
New Mobility: Providing Solutions to Social and Environmental Problems in Urban Slums of Developing Regions
Client: Ford Motor Company
Faculty Advisor: Tom Gladwin
Student Group Members:
Luke Barber, MS Sustainable Systems                                                                       
Ting Ting Liu, MS Sustainable Systems                                              
Jennifer McLaughlin, MBA/MS Environmental Justice                                             
Elin Olson, MS Sustainable Systems                                                              
Emily Plews, MBA/MS Sustainable Systems
Alexandra Wilson, MS Sustainable Systems

Building upon the work of a series of previous SNRE master’s projects, our team has identified New Mobility as a potential set of solutions to many of the social and environmental problems related to mobility and accessibility within urban slum regions of the world.  New Mobility systems are highly integrated, environmentally sound, and socially equitable systems of moving people and goods.  Implementing such systems as a solution to urbanization mega-trends is an innovative concept in that previous solutions to addressing slums (i.e. slum-upgrading) did not consider mobility, and solutions to transportation problems (i.e. mass transit, hub networks, etc) either completely ignored or minimally considered slum dwellers.  Our team has chosen to take both a macro-level as well as a micro-level approach to how we can provide new mobility solutions to urban slums.  Half of the team produced a conceptual model for providing New Mobility solutions to slums throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, while the other half examined issues specific to the slums of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

2:50-3:50pm
The Case for New Transmission in the U.S.: Meeting the Need for Large-Scale Renewable Energy
Client: American Wind Energy Association
Faculty Advisor: Tom Lyon
Student Group Members:
Laura Bruce, MBA/MS Environmental Policy & Planning
David Cieminis, MBA/MS Environmental Policy & Planning
Siobhan Doherty, MBA/MS Environmental Policy & Planning
Theodore Ludwick, MBA/MS Sustainable Systems

The development of large-scale wind resources is currently hampered by the state of the transmission grid.  Because the most promising wind resources are often located in areas geographically distant from load centers, additional transmission lines must be built before resources can be utilized.  Currently, numerous efforts have been undertaken to compare the costs and benefits of new transmission investments.  However, these efforts do not always produce data that is easily transferred to policy makers and constituents.  In addition, such studies do not always consider other power generation options such as natural gas.

Using data gathered from the on-going Joint Coordinated System Plan and other current transmission planning efforts, our team created a simplified model intended for use by policy makers.  This model identifies potential inflection points in which remote wind power plus transmission becomes cost competitive with natural gas plants.  A greater understanding of current cost factors will allow for the pursuit of a wind-friendly political agenda.  Also, due to the challenge of siting transmission lines through communities not benefiting from the produced power, a stakeholder analysis and potential benefit allocations will be discussed. 

4:00-5:00pm
Charting the Course for Sustainability at Aurora Organic Dairy: Phase 1 Energy & Carbon Footprint Analysis
Client: Aurora Organic Dairy
Faculty Advisor: Greg Keoleian
Student Group Members:
William Walter, MS Sustainable Systems
Sarah Cashman, MS Sustainable Systems
Derek Przybylo, MPP/MS Sustainable Systems
Keri Dick, MS Sustainable Systems

The overall objective of this project, as a sequence of two Master’s Projects, is to provide the Aurora leadership team with a framework and the tools necessary to measure and improve their own sustainability performance.  This project, as the first of two phases, will focus on two main goals.  The first goal is to develop an energy and carbon footprint for the milk life cycle system (from growing the feed to distributing the packaged milk products).  This footprint will be used to highlight the greatest contributors, benchmark improvements in the future, and as a comparison with other diary systems.  The second goal is to evaluate and identify strategies for improvement.  The processes with the greatest impacts will be targeted and a list of improvement options compiled.  These options will then be screened based on environmental and financial factors, and more detailed assessments of a prioritized set of strategies will be completed.

-Please note that presentations will be video recorded.  This will give SNRE the ability to showcase projects to future generations of students.

SNRE will also host a
“Thesis and Practicum Presentation Day”
Friday, April 17th
Room 2024 Dana Building

9:10am-9:40am: Laura Welsh Florence
“Fish community structure in Les Cheneaux coastal wetlands: an assessment of methods.”

Afternoon - times to be announced: MLA Student Presentations